Mighty Forces
by EnchantingMrFitz
Summary: "True love saved him from making the biggest mistake of his life". Ezria Christmas fanfic. One-shot. Enjoy!


**Disclaimer: **I do not own Pretty Little Liars

**Authors note: **I wanted to give you guys a little Christmas present, so here you have a one-shot Ezria Christmas fanfic.

Merry Christmas!

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It was Monday, the day before Ezra was going to get married to his high school sweetheart, Jackie. It had always been Jackie's dream to have a winter wedding, so getting married on Christmas made it even that more special.

Tonight, on Christmas Eve, they had their rehearsal dinner. All their close friends and family were going to be there. It was a joyous occasion, celebrating both Christmas Eve and their pending wedding. It only made Ezra feel more excited about it. Ezra put on a fancy suit for his rehearsal dinner and went into the living room, where Jackie was waiting for him.

Ezra looked at the suitcase by the door and looked at Jackie with a pouting look on his face as he asked, "Do you really have to spend the night away from me? I mean, it's a silly tradition." Jackie replied, "It's called a tradition for a reason, Ezra. The groom isn't supposed to see the bride before the wedding or it'll bring bad luck." Ezra frowned and said, "But I'll be seeing you tonight, which is technically before the wedding. I'm seeing you right now, which is also before the wedding...so it doesn't really make sense, now does it?" Jackie shook her head and replied, "Oh Ezra, why must you always be so skeptic about everything?"

Ezra put his arms around Jackie's waist, smiled and said, "Skeptic? Don't you mean romantic, seeing as I don't want to spend a single second without you?" Jackie smiled and replied, "You'll get to spend the rest of your life with me, so one night won't make a difference, now will it?" Ezra said, "I guess so", and then kissed Jackie on the nose.

When Ezra and Jackie arrived at the reception hall for their rehearsal dinner, they said hello to all their close friends and family.

Two of those close friends were Byron and Ella Montgomery. Byron was one of Ezra's coworkers from Hollis College. Byron had a huge smile on his face as he said to Ezra, "Congratulations Ezra! You must be excited for tomorrow!" Ezra chuckled nervously as he admitted, "And totally terrified! But don't tell that to Jackie", as he winked at Byron. Byron laughed and said, "Your secret's safe with me!" Then Byron excused himself as his cell phone went off, "I'm sorry, it's my daughter, I have to take this."

Byron said, "That was tonight? I'm so sorry honey, I didn't know... I thought you were arriving tomorrow..." On the other side of the phone, Aria replied, "That's okay, it's not like your only daughter came back to celebrate Christmas with her family, only to come home to an empty house..." Byron looked embarrassed as he said, "Again, I'm so sorry. Mike is coming home from college tomorrow, so I automatically assumed you'd be arriving then too..." Aria sighed and replied, "It's okay... So where are you and mom anyways? Out on a romantic dinner or something?" Byron said, "No, we're at a rehearsal dinner for a wedding." Aria put two and two together as she realized that rehearsal dinners were usually the day before the wedding and asked, "You're planning on going to a wedding on Christmas instead of spending time with your children, who you hardly see during the year?"

Byron explained, "The wedding starts in the afternoon, so we have an entire morning to spend together. And don't pretend like you were planning on spending the entire day with us..." Aria admitted, "Fine, I was going to meet up with Spencer, Hanna and Emily in the afternoon, but I was still planning on being home for Christmas dinner... which is probably cancelled now..." Byron said, "We're going to have Christmas dinner on the 26th. Like I said, we thought you were arriving tomorrow, so we didn't think you'd be home in time for dinner anyways."

Ezra, who had a front row ticket to Byron's conversation with his daughter, felt a bit guilty and uncomfortable about the whole situation. Ezra got Byron's attention and said, "If your daughter wants to, she can come here and join us?" Byron told Aria to wait a second and asked Ezra, "Are you sure? I wouldn't be putting you out?" Ezra shook his head and said, "Not at all. One more person won't make a difference. She and your son are also welcome to come to the wedding tomorrow, it's absolutely no problem." Byron nodded and thanked Ezra, then turned his attention back to Aria. He asked, "Honey, if you want you can come over to the rehearsal dinner? Ezra, the groom, just invited you." Aria agreed to come over and Byron told her the address.

Aria called for a cab, thinking she'd probably have a drink of two, and then went up to her room to check her closet. She still had some clothes in there from when she was younger. She noticed a red cocktail dress and decided to try it on. Aria looked into the mirror, brushed out her hair a bit and approved of how she looked. She put on matching shoes and a black jacket, got her purse and then went downstairs to wait for the cab to arrive.

When Aria arrived at the reception hall, she got out of the cab and shivered because it was really cold outside. Probably not the best idea to have put on a short dress, but it was too late now. She hurried to go inside and let out a content sigh as the warmth greeted her. She looked around and saw her dad, so she walked over to him.

When she got closer, Aria noticed that her dad was talking to a really handsome man. She was cheering on the inside for changing into this dress and walked over confidently. As she walked over, she noticed she had gotten the man's attention and she smiled. When she had reached them, she turned her attention away from him and turned to Byron and said, "Hey dad!" Byron turned around to see Aria standing there and gave her a big hug.

After their hug, Byron turned to Ezra and introduced Aria, "This is my daughter, Aria. Aria, this is Ezra." Aria felt a stab of disappointment, this was Ezra, the groom? Aria held out her hand to shake Ezra's and said, "Nice to meet you and congratulations. Thank you for inviting me." As Ezra took Aria's hand to shake it, he felt a weird current going through his body. Ezra shook it off, smiled and replied, "Thank you and you're very welcome."

After that, Aria excused herself to go find her mom. Aria and her mom talked for a while, catching up and then there was an announcement that they could start dinner. After the obligatory speeches at the table, they started eating. Aria couldn't help glance over at Ezra once in a while, damn this guy was too good looking for his own good. She looked over at Ezra's soon to be wife and couldn't help feel jealous of her. Ella leaned closer to her daughter and asked whispering, "Are you okay? You seem rather distracted." Aria shook her head and replied, "I'm fine. I'm just a bit tired from the trip, that's all."

After dessert, Aria told her mom she needed to get some fresh air because it was getting too warm inside. Aria walked out of the reception hall and out on the street and was hit in the face with the cold. Aria shivered, cursing herself for leaving her jacket on the chair. Not that it would have made that much of a difference though, she thought to herself. A minute or two later, someone else walked out of the reception hall and joined her on the sidewalk. Ezra walked over to her and asked, "Getting some fresh air?" Aria nodded and replied, "Yeah, it's a bit too crowded for my taste. I'm more of a sit-at-home, read-a-book kind of girl." Ezra smiled, nodded and said, "Yeah me too… well, if you replace girl with guy." Aria giggled and jokingly replied, "Hey, I don't judge." Now it was Ezra's turn to laugh.

Aria changed the subject and asked, "So, you work at Hollis like my dad?" Ezra nodded and replied, "Yeah, I teach English Literature." Aria smiled and said, "I always loved that class. Though it's probably a good thing I didn't have you as my teacher, or I wouldn't have paid any attention to the material." Ezra smiled shyly, but didn't reply. Aria felt awkward now and continued, "Sorry, it wasn't my intention to make you feel uncomfortable. I wasn't hitting on you or anything, I know you're taken." Ezra smiled and replied, "It's okay, it wasn't uncomfortable at all." Ezra noticed a shiver that ran through Aria's body and took of his suit jacket. He draped it over her shoulders as he said, "Here, you look cold." Aria blushed as she thanked him.

Ezra looked down at the ground as he asked, "So… anyone special in your life?" Aria was a bit surprised at his question and replied, "No… not at all, actually. The lonely life of a writer…" Ezra looked up at Aria as his interest was piqued, "Oh? You're a writer?" Aria nodded and replied, "Aspiring one, yes. Though I've been a bit stuck lately." Ezra asked, "How's that?" Aria explained, "Well… recently I just don't have any inspiration whatsoever. So I started travelling, searching a place where I could feel inspired again. But so far I haven't found it yet." Ezra nodded in understanding and said, "Well, I hope you find it again." Aria smiled and replied, "Yeah, me too."

All of a sudden, snowflakes started slowly falling from the sky. Ezra said, "I guess that's our queue to head back inside." Aria replied, "Actually, I'm going to get my jacket inside and walk home." Ezra frowned as he said, "But it's snowing…" Aria nodded and said, "I know, that's actually why. I love it when it snows. There's something poetic about it, you know? No matter how ugly something is, snow has a way of making it look pretty. Even when everything is at its darkest, snow has a way to light it up. And even though its time here is limited, it always leaves an unforgettable impression." As Aria said those words, Ezra felt an intensity inside him he had never experienced before.

Aria felt Ezra's intense gaze on her, realizing what it meant. But knowing that it couldn't happen, she said, "Thanks for the talk, it was lovely", and then gave Ezra his jacket back. Then she walked back inside and Ezra followed. When she was back in the reception hall, Aria searched her parents and told her she was tired and that she was going to head home. They offered to come with her, but she told them to stay and enjoy their selves. She got her jacket, put it on and then headed for the door. Before she left, she took one last look at Ezra, who was already looking at her. She smiled, gave him a small wave and then turned around to leave.

When Aria was a few feet away, she heard someone say, "Wait!" She stopped, looked back and saw that Ezra was walking towards her. When he reached her, Ezra didn't say anything. All he did was take her hand in his and then they started walking, snowflakes slowly falling down on them.

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Okay, so that was my one shot Ezria Christmas fanfic! I really hope you enjoyed it!

I loved writing it, because I always wanted to write an Ezria fanfic with the storyline the Indian guy used in 2x17. And then I got the idea to make it Christmas themed, because I felt it needed snow, lol.

Please review and tell me what you think!


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